{"id":539,"date":"2011-08-19T13:00:29","date_gmt":"2011-08-19T20:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=539"},"modified":"2011-08-17T13:44:50","modified_gmt":"2011-08-17T20:44:50","slug":"mark-watches-battlestar-galactica-s02e02-valley-of-darkness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2011\/08\/mark-watches-battlestar-galactica-s02e02-valley-of-darkness\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Battlestar Galactica’: S02E02 – Valley of Darkness"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the second episode of the second season of Battlestar Galactica<\/em>, FUCKING CYLONS ON THIS MOTHERFUCKING SHIP. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watchBattlestar Galactica<\/em>.<\/p>\n

HOW DOES THIS SHOW KEEP DOING THIS? I mean, I don’t want<\/em> it to slow down, because it is so terribly entertaining, but every episode finds at least one thing to send my brain into overdrive, my heart pounding in my chest. The very nature of the way the Cylons are used in “Valley of Darkness” lends itself easily to tension, and it certainly helps that the writers were very<\/em> generous with the body count we see here. Even with most of the excitement focused on board the Galactica<\/em>, the plots on Kobol and Caprica do not suffer in the slightest because of this. This is one of the best executed stories we’ve gotten from the show, and I’m sure it’ll be one I return to watch again.<\/p>\n

We’re almost tricked in the beginning to believe that this is not going to deal with any larger issues for two reasons: the cold open with Dualla and Billy is so adorable, and because the imminent Cylon threat implies that this will purely be a physical story. It both sets a distracting tone, and it rests on our preconceived notions of what is going to happen over the course of the next 45 minutes. Cylons are on board! They will attack the humans! Fight!<\/p>\n

Oh, how I wish it had been that simple. Even though I knew<\/em> it was coming, especially since Kelly reveals that the Galactica<\/em> has been boarded, I still cried out in shock when the Cylon Centurion appeared before the group of pilots and SLASHED AWAY FLYBOY’S STOMACH<\/em>. The sheer violence of the act is what scared me; it’s not the show hasn’t been bloody and violent, but it was so sudden and horrific that I lost myself in the moment. And I really do love how the scene was filmed. So much of it was shot in near-darkness, with a shaky camera angle to give us a sense of the chaos and energy of the moment. All of the characters are soaked in the blood of Flyboy, a reminder that these people are mortal. And while I don’t think any main characters will be killed off soon, it’s still very real threat to a lot of secondary and tertiary people. The Cylons will stop at nothing<\/em> to destroy these remaining humans.<\/p>\n

Which is still a bit strange to me, I suppose. Why kill all the humans if you needed one to mate with Boomer to get closer to God? How exactly does that work? What’s the point of it all? Hmmmm. I AM CURIOUS TO FIND OUT MORE.<\/p>\n

It’s right around this point that things just slip straight into JESUS GOD HOW WILL WE GET OUT OF THIS<\/strong>. It’s bad enough the Centurions are on board, but Gaeta realizes that he did not<\/em> turn off the network in “Scattered” early enough, because a computer virus has gotten into the system. So the ship is cloaked in darkness. Oh, and the Cylons only die by use of explosive rounds. The list of limitations and conditions present are, again, a great way to build tension. Let’s shroud the ship in darkness. You can only use one type of round, and it is in rare supply. Oh, right, and you just watched a friend and crew member get gutted. Oh, also, the Cylons are in the computer network through a virus that has shut down the power. Oh, and Tigh has figured out that they’re going to vent the ship’s atmosphere, killing the crew, and then they’ll use the weapons on board the Galactica<\/em> to eradicate the rest of the fleet.<\/p>\n

Oh, and Adama is still unconscious. ISN’T THIS ONE GIGANTIC PARTY, EVERYONE?<\/em><\/p>\n

This very same hectic party has transported itself to those stranded on Kobol, and the grim nature of being trapped on this mysterious world is now more obvious than ever. It’s only a matter of time, I think, before the surviving crew is faced with the presence of Cylons, and I worry that things are only going to get worse<\/em> for them. But this isn’t even the first thing we’re dealt by the writers. Can I just say this? WHAT THE FUCK IS BALTAR’S VISION ABOUT?<\/strong> First of all, Commander Adama drowned a baby. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?<\/em> Clearly, Six is telling Baltar that whatever bizarre Cylon-human baby is coming to them in the future, Adama will pose a threat to it. But I don’t even understand the importance of the baby yet, and I’m being disoriented by Six’s predictions. Hell, are they even predictions? Has she been wrong about the future before?<\/p>\n

I’m confused. That’s okay, but I’m just confused<\/em>. Yet “Valley of Darkness” is not done with me yet. When Baltar awakes, he discovers he is in a part of the forest where there is a pile of human bones hidden from view. Oh, where did those come from? I wonder. Six answers that: the scriptures belonging to the Lords of Kobol are a lie. There was no unity between humans and gods, and human nature took over. Ok, WHAT????<\/em> Of course I question the truth of this statement, but, again, Six’s track record is historically spot-on for the most part. What she tells Baltar is, at least for Baltar, what actually happens. Give yourself to God? He’ll save you. Get off of Galactica<\/em> because of what’s going to happen? Adama is shot, Centurions go on a murder spree, and Baltar discovers his true destiny.<\/p>\n

Seriously, what the fuck is going on?<\/em><\/p>\n

To be fair, though, there is a brief<\/em> moment of joy on Kobol, despite that 99% of everything else is DOOM AND GLOOM AND OH GOD. I wasn’t surprised that Tyrol took Tarn’s death so personally, but…dude, KEEP MOVING. I was<\/em> surprised by Cally’s ultimate reaction to it, and I wish to immediately ingrain “Talk, you motherfrakker!” into my daily vocabulary. Bless her<\/em>. It wasn’t that I was not interested in Cally before, as I am quite enamored with her, but in that one moment, I suddenly wanted a Cally-centric episode. Sooooooo….hey writers, could you give me one? Nevermind that the show has already been completed and this is a futile quest. I AM LIVING IN THE MOMENT.<\/p>\n

This moment is brief, as I said, and then it’s run into the ground by the reality of the crash on Kobol. Tyrol and Cally do exactly what they’re supposed to, and it’s a noble thing that they get the med kit for Socinus, but sometimes you can do all of the right things and it doesn’t make the difference you want it to make. It’s not even that their efforts were futile. Maybe if Tarn hadn’t been shot (WHO WAS HE SHOT BY??? THAT WAS NOT ANSWERED AND I DIDN’T EVEN THINK OF THAT) they would have made it to him in time. Maybe if Tarn hadn’t forgotten to bring the second medical kit, Socinus would be fine. Maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe. That<\/em> is a futile exercise. There’s no sense in speaking in hypotheticals. Instead, these people must face the hand they have been dealt. Again, it’s Tyrol who has difficultly accepting what’s in front of him, and that’s remarkably<\/em> in character for the guy. All throughout season one, he’s a man in denial of the obvious truth behind Boomer, and he’s now a man in denial of the deaths of Tarn and Socinus. So it’s a big moment for his character when he<\/em> is the one who decides to give him the morpha. (I thought it was morphine, but I misheard it, since that’s the word I’m actually familiar with.) And it just so depressingly touching to me that in Socinus’s last moments, Tyrol tells him that the rescue party has arrived. He will die with hope and excitement in his heart.<\/p>\n

God damn<\/em>.<\/p>\n

While this is happening, the events on board the Galactica <\/em>continue to get worse, and I love that the writers don’t ignore that Roslin is stuck in the brig while the Cylons begin to rain panic and chaos down on the humans. Thankfully, it’s Lee who reaches them first, and I don’t doubt that Tigh would have left her there if he had been presented with the same situation. In hindsight, now I see how amazing it is that these are the two groups that are faced with the Cylon threat. We have Corporal Veneer, Billy, and Roslin on one side, and Lee and the team of Marines on the other. I never thought for once that they’d end up in the same area by the end of this all, but the plot is intricately maneuvered to create a electrifying ending to this all. But part of the appeal really lands squarely on Billy, and while this isn’t an in-depth backstory or anything, I actually think we learn a great deal about him in the process. Obviously, his relationship with Dualla is explored more throughout it all, but we also see the way his dynamic is set up with Roslin as well. He really does care about her more than one would as an assistant, but he’s not necessarily overprotective either. That<\/em> side comes out more when they make a horrifying discovery on their journey to safety: a mass of bodies, massacred and torn apart by the Cylons. There is a lone survivor, and I was shocked to see Dualla in this state. She’s normally so collected, and now she is lost in the bloodbath before her. It was at this moment that I suddenly felt that something awful <\/em>was going to happen. It’s made even worse when Veneer discovers the passage he wanted to take has been depressurized, forcing him to head to Aft damage control, where both Lee’s crew and the Centurions are headed as well.<\/p>\n

I was distracted, though, by the way that Billy and Dualla were finally allowed to spend time together. Their meeting at the beginning of the episode was awkward, and it’s certainly no less so here, but it was adorable to watch them interact. Well, and to watch Dualla how to tell Billy to properly holster a gun in his jeans. But I was filled with this horrible sense of dread, as if the writers had stuck them together just to tear them apart. Upon learning that they were unknowingly headed to the exact same place as the Centurions and Marines, I knew that this collision was not going to be without loss. It doesn’t seem like the show’s style, and I now suddenly felt that this<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0was why Dualla and Billy were now together as they were.<\/p>\n

It’s what makes the emotional climax of “Valley of Darkness” so hard to watch. As they all converge on that part of the ship, and Billy accidentally fires the gun he was holding, I thought he was dead. Like, this would be the last thing he would ever do. Then I thought Dualla would die. Then I watched two Marines die instead, and it’s just down to Jammer and Lee, and then I thought he<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0would die, just for a fraction of a second, but quickly realized how absurd that would be. So even though none of the main casts dies, I was still left exhausted and frightened by the whole ordeal. It’s really a brilliant combination of situational horror and suspense, as well as a heavy investment on the emotional states of the various characters it affects.<\/p>\n

Here’s the thing, though, and what ultimately makes me adore “Valley of Darkness”: as good as all of this is, it is nowhere near as satisfying as the story on Caprica<\/em>. Seriously, turn this series into Battlestar Starbuck<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0and I will go procreate and donate that child as a blood sacrifice or something. Her story with Helo is miles above what is already<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0one hell of an episode, and it goes to show me just how talented the writers of this show are.<\/p>\n

The way she interacts with Helo is both out of disgust and empathy, and I’m fascinated by both of them. She’s obviously upset that he trusted Boomer, especially enough so that she got pregnant<\/em>, but I think it’s important that she acknowledges that they all<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0got fooled. Cylons have tricked those in the fleet as well. Is she starting to accept that the Boomer on board the Galactica<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0is also a Cylon? She’s hasn’t commented on this at all, so I’m still unsure if she thinks there is a “real” Sharon Valerii somewhere in the world.<\/p>\n

Yet even her furious condemnations of Helo’s behavior are not grudges or anything of the sort. She gets it out of her system (and gets Helo to stop wading in his own guilt, too) and forces him to take a pit stop with her. In just a few minutes’ time, the entire world of Starbuck is opened more vastly than ever before, and I think that’s ultimately why I love her story so much. We find out that Starbuck PAINTS<\/em>. Oh, and apparently her father is Phillip Glass? LOL JUST KIDDING. But she comes from a family of artists. STARBUCK<\/em>. The best part is that once you think about it, this is not<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0at all inconceivable. Even better, the opportunity provides us a chance to look at this character completely differently than we did before. Obviously, there’s a comfort in seeing her old place, and she even remarks how she once hated the place, but with the human race near destruction, even the simpler things are not so bad.<\/p>\n

I just love the image of these two relaxing in Starbuck’s old place, or the image of them driving through an abandoned Caprica. I think that they both mutually respect one another to a high degree, and even though they’re in a rough situation, they at least now have someone they can trust wholly and completely.<\/p>\n

At the end of “Valley of Darkness,” though, we’re treated to the reality of the fleet, and Tigh reminds Lee and Roslin (and us, in the process) that things are not all bunnies and puppies even though the Centurion threat has been eliminated. Tigh is still<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0furious at Lee’s change in heart regarding Roslin, and now I’m<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0curious as to what Adama will say when he does wake up. The man’s duty suggests he’ll side with Tigh, but what if he has a change of heart when he wakes up? All I know is that it could go either way, and either way is believable to me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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